Driftwood Chinese Buffet

Amazing food with a good ambience and service! We had been planning a visit for quite sometime but I'm glad we finally made it on Feb 14 this year 🥰 I was missing chinese food and this restaurant will be my go-to! Service is a bit slow but thank god it's a buffet. We really didn't wait for anyone to hand us the cutlery or the plates. My son also loved the food there. Thanks guys, keep up the great work

I've been having an odd craving for buffet Chinese food and kept wanting to try this new place out! Driftwood is a chain buffet restaurant on Vancouver Island with Nanaimo being it's 4th location. It opened earlier this year and I've heard many great things about it... So here we are! We got here shortly after they opened for lunch on a snowy Sunday. It was half full of people and after we sat down, more people streamed in. A nice spacious seating area.

Onto the food! They had a good selection of food, but refilling the items was a bit delayed. Food was fresh and above average quality for buffets, I was surprised. The lunch buffet is $19.95 for ages 13+, and included dim sum. Dim sum was as expected, but not bad for being in a steamer for a long time. I really enjoyed the Singaporean rice noodles, chicken wings, and butter shrimp. Jello was a bit bland, but I like how the portions for dessert are bite-sized, easier to gauge how much I can eat after stuffing myself on the main food items!

Overall the food tasted authentic, although a bit salty. Staff were friendly and helpful.

We arrived at the beginning of the supper buffet, and we're not disappointed. As far as buffets go, the food was top tier and the non-pork options (I'm Jewish) were quite significant. This is now my favourite Chinese buffet in Nanaimo. Thanks to all!